


smoke alarms aren't always so bad.

by ctrlchaeng



Category: Carmilla (Web Series)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fluff, it's so fluffy seriously prepare to die
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-21
Updated: 2015-03-05
Packaged: 2018-03-14 10:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,663
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3407792
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ctrlchaeng/pseuds/ctrlchaeng
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>every time you cook you set off the smoke alarm so you know what I’m just going to teach you how to cook au. </p>
<p>some gross hollstein fluff.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The time Carmilla helps Laura cook.

 Carmilla gets to her apartment after a very long day and just stands in front of the door for a second. She’s seriously pissed off and she knows that's just how she feels every day of her life, but this time it's different. While she was climbing up the stairs she could smell it, and she can still smell it now. Her neighbor is cooking again and even though she’s super tired, she doesn't feel like listening to the smoke alarm go off for the third time this week. So she makes a quick decision and knocks on her neighbor’s door before it’s too late. She’s greeted by a tiny girl with long dirty blonde hair wearing a grey tank top and sweatpants who looks super frustrated. The girl stares at her with an angry and questioning (yet still polite) look on her face.  

 "Did you know every time you cook you set off the smoke alarm?" Carmilla says in the broodiest tone she can manage because it's really hard not to smile when her neighbor is angrily holding up a _spatula_.

 "Oh, I don't know," the girl responds sarcastically and then lowers her voice in an attempt to imitate Carmilla’s. "Did you know every time you talk you set off the broody alarm?"

 This time she can't control the smile that spreads through her face, and she knows this girl should be pissing her off like every person she’s ever met (especially because she’s the one who had set off the smoke alarm at least ten times in the last month), but she finds her weirdly entertaining. So she walks past her side even though the girl hasn't invited her in yet (and she’s quite sure she wasn't going to), and the confused look on her face amuses Carmilla even more.

"Excuse me, but who the hell are you?" Says the girl, annoyed by Carmilla rudely entering her apartment.

"I'm Carmilla, your neighbor," Carmilla answers. "And I'm going to teach you how to cook, creampuff."

 The girl looks angry for a second but the frustration seems to take over and she finally closes the door and walks to the kitchen without saying another word. Now that she’s not there, Carmilla can finally look around the place. It’s so clean and organised and she can’t stand it so she throws her stuff on the ground.

 "Are you going to teach me or not?" She hears her neighbor yell and she follows her voice to the kitchen.

 "Sure thing," she says when she gets there. "Don’t want you setting off the smoke alarm yet again, do I?" Her neighbor looks like she wants to say something, but she just frowns. "What are you trying to cook, cupcake?"

 She stays quiet for a second.

 "It’s Laura," she finally spits out annoyed.

 "Who is?" 

 "Me. I’m Laura. Not creampuff. Not cupcake. Laura."

 "Whatever you say, sweetie," Carmilla teases her. Laura scrunches up her nose but doesn’t say anything. Carmilla sighs. "Okay, let me ask you again. What are you trying to cook, _Laura?"_

 It feels weird. Calling a person by their actual name. But weird good. And Laura looks pretty pleased.

 "Pasta," she responds.

 "Could you at least try to be more specific, cupcake?"

 And yeah. It’s weird good, but back to normal seems to make Laura scrunch up her nose again. Which Carmilla doesn’t think makes her look cute, why would she think it makes her look cute?

-

 "So…" Laura starts after they’re done cooking. "Would you like to stay and eat with me?"

 "Don't worry, cutie. I wasn’t planning on going away." Carmilla grins. "Of course I’ll stay and enjoy the meal _I_ cooked for us."

 "Okay, not fair." Laura sounds super offended and Carmilla thinks she shouldn’t be enjoying this as much as she is. "We both cooked it. Sure, you did most of the job, but how was I supposed to learn if you didn’t? I mean-"

 Carmilla puts a spoonful of lasagna on her mouth. "And now you need to learn how to shut up, don’t you think?" Laura’s eyes widen. "Is it good?"

 "Hell yeah," she answers, and with the tiny bit of courage she has, she takes a spoonful of her own and puts it in front of Carmilla’s mouth. "Here, you try it now."

 Carmilla can’t deny she’s surprised by the bold action, but she’s not going to lose the opportunity to mess with her neighbor a bit more. So she looks Laura straight in the eye and cleans the spoon as slowly as possible. She can feel Laura’s hand slightly shaking inside of her mouth. When she’s finished swallowing, she grins.

 "How about we put the lasagna on plates now and eat like normal people?" She suggests.

 "Oh my God, I’m so sorry. Wow, I’m pretty sure I’m like the worst host ever. Yes, of course. Let’s do that. What you said. Let’s do it. I’m so so _so_ sorry. Really, I-"

 "Do you want me to shut you up again, cupcake?"

 Laura doesn’t say anything to that. She’s blushing and doesn’t want Carmilla to notice, so she puts the food on plates and takes them to a little table with two chairs. She won’t admit to wanting Carmilla to shut her up. Like, ever. Carmilla follows her and holds a chair out for her, which makes Laura blush again. This time she can’t cover it up by doing something else so she just looks away.

 They start eating in silence. It’s a comfortable silence, though. It’s broken every once in a while because Laura can’t keep her mouth shut about how good it tastes and whenever she actually eats the food she still manages to imply it with little appreciation noises. Carmilla likes that Laura likes it. But she’s not going to admit that. Not even to herself. She just helped her neighbor cook because she didn’t want the smoke alarm to be set off. She did it for her own selfish reasons, not because she actually wanted to help. And even if Laura hasn’t done anything that’s made her want to punch her in the face yet, that isn’t enough to change the fact that the girl is just her neighbor. (Her _cute_ _tiny neighbor._ But her neighbor nonetheless.)

 "So, was this the best home-cooked meal of the history of your apartment or what?" Carmilla asks after Laura’s finished.

 "Yeah. It kind of was," Laura says. "The only bad thing is that now everything I cook is going to taste like garbage."

 She sounds so disappointed and sad and Carmilla doesn’t know why but she doesn’t want her to feel like that. She can hear herself talking before she even thinks it through. "It doesn’t have to be like that, you know."

 "What do you mean?"

 "I mean, I could come help you every now and then. It wouldn’t hurt. Plus, no more smoke alarm."

 Laura almost jumps up her chair, a really wide smile spread across her face. She takes Carmilla’s hand in hers without actually thinking about what she’s doing and she squeezes it.

 "Would you really do that for me? Oh my God, thank you so much! Best neighbor ever!"

 Carmilla laughs and ignores how when Laura took her hand it sent shivers down her spine. And she hates herself for not wanting to let go of the tiny girl’s hand, so she does just that. She squeezes Laura’s hand and lets go of it as she stands up. Laura’s smile fades a bit. She looks at Carmilla with a questioning look.

 "I actually have to go now. I had a busy day. I’m like, super tired.” Laura sighs and stands up, too. “But thanks for the food.”

 "Thank you for cooking it," Laura says.

 "You’re welcome,"  Carmilla laughs as she picks up her stuff from the floor and walks to the door. She positions herself next to Laura. "Thank you for finally embracing the fact that I was the one doing all the cooking."

 "Shut up," Laura nudges her with her shoulder and opens the door. "I will never embrace that lie."

 "You just did, though."

 "I think I told you to shut up."

 Carmilla grins, but it quickly fades away. She doesn’t know what to do now. How should she say goodbye? A handshake? Too formal. A hug? Too soon. A kiss? Definitely not. Who thought that? Not her, that’s for sure. Maybe waving wouldn’t be so bad? Before she’s decided on one of those stupid options, Laura wraps her in a hug. She tenses a bit, but after a second she hugs back. And it’s good. It’s not even weird good. It’s just good. Laura lets go after a while, leaving a lingering kiss on her cheek.

 "See you later, Carm" she says. Carmilla smiles at the nickname. She ignores the fact that she doesn’t let anyone call her anything other than her actual name. It’s always been Carmilla or a punch in the face. But coming from Laura it’s somehow not so bad. It's actually pretty nice.

 "Yeah, later, cupcake."

 Laura smiles back at her and she starts walking backwards until she reaches her apartment’s door. She doesn’t want to stop looking at Laura, but she has to. So she turns to open the door and hears Laura closing hers.

 Carmilla rests her body against her closed door and sighs, a smile appearing on her face. And she doesn’t know this, but Laura is doing just the same.

 


	2. The time Laura sets it off on purpose.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> the fluff is stronger in this one.  
> (yes, it's possible.)

 They've been doing it for a while now. Every few days, Carmilla will knock on Laura's door, sometimes even bringing her own ingredients. And in those few days, Laura will open with a really big smile on her face, letting her in. After two months she's sure she could cook at least ten of the meals Carmilla's taught her, but that doesn't mean she wants to. She likes her neighbor's presence and she doesn't really want it to go away. So she stays quiet about how much she's learnt and pretends she's still a mess (maybe even a worse mess than before), and it works wonders because she gets to enjoy Carmilla's company.

 One of those few days, Carmilla swears she sees Laura doing something wrong absolutely on purpose. She doesn't say anything, but she starts paying close attention. It happens a few more times over the week, but she's not entirely sure of it until she sees Laura do something so stupid it can't possibly be an accident. Maybe it's because there is absolutely  _no_  way Laura can’t  _rinse_  the rice, maybe it's because there is  _no_  way Laura could have thrown rice on the floor by  _mistake_. She approaches her before Laura can call out her name.

 "What was that, cupcake?" She says, a smirk planted on her face.

 "I just- I think I messed up." Carmilla quirks her eyebrow. "Can you help me?"

 "Okay," she responds. "You can clean up if you want. I'll take care of this." She points at the rice and starts rinsing it again, but Laura doesn't go anywhere. She puts a hand on Carmilla's arm and makes her stop.

 "I said help me, not do it yourself."

 Carmilla's smirk is wider than it's ever been, of that she's sure.

 "And how could I possibly  _help_  you rinse the rice, without doing it myself?"

 "Well…" Laura's heart is racing. She doesn't remember none of the numerous pros on the pros and cons list she had made on her mind just a few seconds ago. "You could, you know, help me by actually letting me do it?"

 "Yeah, because that worked out  _so_  well," Carmilla says, sarcasm pouring through her voice as she points at the rice on the floor.

 Laura blushes and groans, but she doesn't give up. She's so tired of leaving hints everywhere for Carmilla to pick up and she decides she's not going to keep doing it forever, she has to let Carmilla know. So she doesn't give up and builds up courage out of her frustration instead. She positions herself in front of her annoyingly oblivious neighbor, her back against her chest, and puts her hand on the rice, just below Carmilla's. And yeah, touching Carmilla. That was  _the_  pro on her list.

 She takes a deep breath.

 "Now help me."

 Carmilla happily obliges, and feels weirdly bummed out when they finish their task. And it's obviously not because she has to let go of Laura's hand. At least that's what she tells herself. But then she realizes there's no way around it anymore. So, when they're sitting at the table, she stops telling herself that, and slowly reaches to hold Laura's hand from across the table. And even though there's no way to know for sure because she never even dares to look up, she thinks Laura's smiling at her.

-

 Sometimes, when Carmilla doesn't grab her hand, she has to build up courage again and do it herself. But it's not nearly as much as when the girl was completely oblivious, so she's thankful for that. Nothing else happens, though, and Laura thinks that's just _stupid._ The frustration keeps growing inside her, and daydreaming about kissing Carmilla when she's just ten feet away isn't helping that much (it isn't helping at all). She doesn't blame herself for that, though. Because really, how could anyone  _not_  want to kiss Carmilla? But even with that thought in mind, daydreaming still doesn't help her case.

 Apparently, this is one of the days she has to build up courage again. She grabs Carmilla's hand and gives it a squeeze. The girl looks up from her food and her eyes (her mesmerizing dark eyes) look directly at Laura's. There's something in them. Something she has never seen before.

 "Is everything okay, Carm?" She asks. She's afraid of the answer. Afraid Carmilla's going to say that no, not everything's okay. Afraid she'll stop holding her hand and afraid she'll run away from her life as fast as she came into it. But none of that happens. Carmilla squeezes her hand and smiles and doesn't break eye contact.

 "Yeah. I'm okay." She sounds different, and Laura just knows she's about to say something important so she pays close attention to her words. "More than okay, actually."

 She holds her hand tightly.

 "A realization just hit me by surprise, that’s all."

 Laura takes a deep breath. She knows Carmilla has more to say, and she knows she wants to say it, so she just gives her a little push.

 "Care to share?"

 Carmilla smiles and Laura can't help but smile back.

 "I'm just really happy to have you in my life."

 Laura's smile grows bigger and _wow_ Carmilla hasn't broken the eye contact yet, that must be a new record. She realizes she hasn't replied yet when Carmilla's eyebrows furrowed, and she talks as quickly as possible.

 "I'm happy to have you in my life, too."

 "Good."

 Carmilla finally looks away and Laura's a bit disappointed. But she's still holding her hand, so she doesn't complain.

-

 It's been a week since Laura reciprocated her "happy to have you in my life" and it frustrates her that they've barely seen each other since then. It's not that she doesn't want to see her (because actually seeing her is  _all_  she wants to do), but work's been tougher than ever and it's kind of a miracle that she has the strength to walk three flights of stairs and get off unnecessary layers of clothes before she falls asleep on her couch.

 One of those days her sleep is interrupted by the smoke alarm and she growls and stands up. She doesn't really think it through before going straight to Laura's apartment and knocking. It’s not until Laura opens up that she realizes her hair is messy and she's just on a punk rock t-shirt and panties. Laura's smile fades and she seems like she's in a trance as she takes in the sight of Carmilla, but it only lasts for one or two seconds. She quickly recovers and chuckles.

 "Were you really sleeping at 10PM on a Friday night?"

 Carmilla quirks her eyebrows.

 "I thought we were way past setting off the smoke alarm, cutie," she says, blatantly ignoring Laura's question.

 "Yeah, well." Laura frowns. "That was when you helped me avoid it."

 Carmilla smirks.

 "Why don't you help me avoid it anymore?" Laura asks. She knows it's not the best timing, but she really wants an explanation. Carmilla thinks she owes her one, and maybe that'll wipe away that frown that's still on Laura's face.

 (Because if it doesn't, she's not sure she'd be able to contain herself from wiping it with her own fingers.) 

 "It's been kind of an intense week at work, I mostly come home and fall asleep." Laura finally doesn't look mad or annoyed anymore, but she keeps talking anyway. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you."

 Laura smiles.

 "It's okay," she says. " _I'm_ sorry. I shouldn't have been mad at you. And I absolutely shouldn't have set off the smoke alarm just so you'd come here and-"

 "Wait, you did that on purpose?"

 Carmilla looks amused and tries to make eye contact with Laura, but the girl's too embarrassed to keep it. She looks away for a second, but her eyes just go back to Carmilla with messy hair and underwear and a t-shirt from a band she doesn't recognize (but she likes how it looks on her. Of course she does. She likes everything on her.)

 "Yeah, I kind of did," she finally replies. Carmilla grins. "Again, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done it. I mean, it's not like you owe me explanations or anything."

 Before Laura starts ranting again, Carmilla takes a step closer to her. The grin that was on her face had faded and all that was left was a look that confused the tiny girl. Carmilla's playing with the strings of her hoodie. And much like that moment a week ago when that same girl had told her she was happy she was a part of her life, Laura knows Carmilla wants to say something now. Something important.

 "I want to, though." Laura looks confused. Carmilla looks her in the eye. "Owe you explanations, I mean."

 Laura gulps audibly. This is her chance. It's finally here. So she builds up that courage that's let her hold Carmilla's hand so many times and gets a little bit closer.

 "You do?"

 Carmilla sighs. Laura's just inches away from her and it's kind of overwhelming.

 "Yeah, I do," she answers. "Do you?"

 Laura nods and Carmilla stares at her lips as she licks hers. She tries fighting the urge to pull Laura even closer, but it appears that her hands no longer take orders from her brain, because they just go straight to Laura's waist and pull. Her neighbor gasps at their proximity and Carmilla takes a deep breath, Laura's scent is everywhere and it's taking control of everything and before she can think of anything else she's talking again.

 "Well, good thing you set off the smoke alarm, then."

 Her voice is low and now Laura's staring at her lips, too, and she doesn't think she can contain herself any longer, so she just goes for it. She presses her lips to Laura's and it's all kinds of awesome. The brush of their lips feels so  _right_ , and Carmilla thinks it couldn't possibly get any better than that. She's proved wrong when Laura starts kissing her back, her hands on her neck pulling her even closer, because oh, it got better. It got so much better.


	3. The time they set it off together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so it was supposed to be just 3 chapters but when I finished writing this one it was so long I divided it.  
> enjoy the fluff.

 Their kisses get slower and sloppier and messier and so, after what feels like ages, they pull away.

 Carmilla really wants to keep going but she really wants to sleep, too. And so, when she tries to kiss Laura again and she almost falls on top of her instead, the tiny girl makes her go back to her apartment telling her they would have all weekend. She tries to complain, but she's just unable to produce anything more than a growl. Laura chuckles and Carmilla tries to kiss her again, but she pushes her away and leads her to her messy apartment. She pecks her lips one last time and then disappears.

 After closing the door, Carmilla sighs and rests her body against it and smiles, much like the day she met Laura. Laura. She had just kissed Laura and it had felt so good. Why wasn't she kissing Laura now? Her eyes are closed and she almost falls to the ground when she starts to fall asleep, and yeah, _that's_ why she isn't kissing Laura.   

 She opens her eyes and sighs as she takes in her messy apartment and suddenly Laura's clean and organised one doesn't seem so bad. Maybe a mess without something clean isn't really a happy mess. And maybe cleanness needs a little bit of mess every once in a while. She laughs at her own thoughts. Yeah, Laura's right, she needs to sleep. Like, now. She curls up on her couch and falls asleep thinking about how maybe smoke alarms aren't always such a pain in the ass.

-

 She wakes up to her door opening and someone giving her a kiss on the cheek. She smiles, not opening her eyes yet. It smells like cocoa and cookies and she wonders if it's Laura’s lips (the girl is always eating cookies after all) or actual breakfast.

 "Wake up, little miss grumpy," she hears Laura's soft voice say.

 "No," she growls.

 "Come on, Carm."

 Laura sounds a bit frustrated, and Carmilla just knows what's the expression on the girl's face.

 "Stop frowning," she says without opening her eyes. "You'll ruin your pretty face."

 She hears Laura gasp and grins.

 "How did you know? Are you like, a magician?" She questions. "Or a witch? Did you go to Hogwarts? Oh my God, which house? I'd say you're either a Slytherin or a Ravenclaw. I mean, you're intense and sly and I could see you in silver and green but you're also super smart and of course you'd be able to pull off blue and bronze so I don't know… which house do you think you'd be in? Maybe-"

 Once she realizes Laura isn't going to shut up anytime soon, she slowly opens her eyes. Laura's sitting on the floor and Carmilla doesn't want her to be uncomfortable but she doesn't know how to say _"hey, are you okay down there? if not you can always sit down next to my face"_  without sounding like a total pervert.

 "How'd you get in here, cupcake?" She cuts off her rant. Laura smiles at her.

 "You're going to have to find a better place than a welcome mat to hide your key, Carm." Laura responds, pleased with herself. "To be honest, I was kind of surprised it was there. I expected a better hiding place."

 "Hm. But if I hide it somewhere else, how will you be able to come in?" Laura smiles wider and shrugs."I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave the key there, then. Too risky to change it."

 Laura chuckles and takes ahold of Carmilla's hand. But Carmilla doesn't just want her hand, so she quickly gets off the couch, sitting next to her. She leans in, but their lips have barely touched when Laura pulls away. Carmilla frowns.

 "Is there something wrong?" She asks, worried. "Shit, was last night a one time thing for you? Because if it was I'll totally back off."

 Laura looks like she's about to burst out laughing.

 "Hey, this is not funny. Please tell me if you want this. I really want it, but if you don't we can totally be just friends. I just like having you around and I wouldn't mind if-"

 "Shut it, Carm," Laura scoffs. "Of course I want this. It's just…" She points at the coffee table beside them. "Breakfast."

 Carmilla grins and starts getting closer and closer to her ear.

 "Breakfast can wait," she whispers. "I have better things to do."

 And she tries to kiss Laura _again_ , and gets rejected _again_. She figures it was worth the shot.

 "No, Carmilla. Breakfast," Laura says, laughing and pointing at the cookies and pancakes and cocoa on the coffee table once more. "Please?" She pouts. "You looked really tired yesterday so I made it especially for you. Will you please eat it? Please, please, _please_?"

 "Okay," Carmilla sighs.

 Laura's excitement reveals when she finally lets their lips touch. Just for a few seconds, but still. Laura pulls away and Carmilla hasn't even opened her eyes when there's something else pressing against her lips.

 "Open your mouth, silly," Laura giggles.

 Carmilla takes a bite from the cookie Laura's been holding in front of her and smiles. She could get used to this.

-

 And so she does. She gets used to it. They have breakfast together, and they cook dinner together, and she gets used to it. The closeness and the kisses and the cuddling. She gets used to it all.

 They're cuddling and watching a movie when it happens. The word slips out of Carmilla's tongue like it's nothing new, and after that she just waits, flustered, for Laura to start teasing her. What she gets is not as mortifying as she thought it would be, so she's grateful for that.

 "Hey, _girlfriend_ ," is what Laura says, smiling. "Took you long enough."

-

 They go on their first real date about a week after that, and much like all of Laura's first dates, it's a disaster. Their restaurant reservation had been cancelled and when they finally get to eat something, they have to do it quickly and without talking much, because they have another place to get to. They still end up getting late to the movies and they barely catch the ending of the one they were going to watch.

 And even though anything bad that could happen, happened, Laura thinks this is the best date she's ever had. When they're walking back to their apartments, she gets why that is. It's Carmilla's frustrated face when nothing goes as planned, it's how she never lets go of her hand if it's not strictly necessary, it's how she catches her glancing up her food just to see her (even when they were supposed to be eating as fast as they could.) It's how she kisses her when they get to their floor, and how she says goodnight and gets into her own apartment without ever looking away from her, and how she's still on her mind when she goes to bed.

 And that's the first time Laura thinks about how maybe she doesn't just _like_ Carmilla anymore. The first time she thinks that maybe she might possibly even kind of _love_ her.

-

 There are other dates after that one, dates that actually go as planned, but they still rather spend time just eating breakfast or cooking dinner or cuddling and kissing when they can.

 This is one of those days. They haven't cooked in a while, because Laura's been showing Carmilla all of her favorite take-out places for about two weeks, and when they decide what to cook and they leave it inside the oven, they forget what they're doing almost instantly.

 It starts with Carmilla giving her girlfriend just a peck on the lips, but then Laura doesn't let go and keeps kissing her and her hands get under Carmilla's shirt and start going up, and up, and up. And then they fall backwards on the couch and keep making out on it and Laura's fingers start undoing her bra and when she finally hears the click and she's about to take Carmilla's shirt off, the smoke alarm sets off.

 Carmilla's frustrated and annoyed look must be all over her face because Laura starts laughing for dear life and she won't stop. So Carmilla stands up and goes turn off the alarm and take their burnt food out of the oven and hopes Laura's stopped laughing when she gets back. But she hasn't. And even though she's super annoyed, another realization hits her then and there. It hits her like that day she told Laura how happy she makes her. It hits her that she's fallen for this girl that can't stop laughing at their bad luck, for this girl that kisses her and makes her forget everything else, for this girl that makes her so happy. And somehow she knows that it's been like that for a while. But it hits her now, and it hits her hard. And she's okay with it, because when she sees Laura it doesn’t scare her how much she loves her.

 (She loves her, she loves her, she loves her.)

 So she looks over at her, and she looks at her like she's never looked at her before. It's a look in which she's trying to get it all out there because she doesn't think Laura's ready to hear it yet, but she can't keep it to herself. It's a look that says _hey, Laura, I love you._  


	4. The time Laura gets drunk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry (no I'm not) but when I was editing this chapter I started rewriting some scenes and it was so long I divided it again.  
> Enjoy drunk!Laura.

 "This is  _so_ boring, Carm," Laura whines. She's, well,  _bored_ , and almost her whole upper body is resting on the table.

 "You said you wanted to meet my brother, cupcake."  

 "Yeah, well, you didn't tell me he was _so_ boring, Carm."

 Carmilla scoffs.

 "Uh, yeah, I kind of did. Like, a million times. You just didn't listen."

 "Well, he's  _boring_. And he makes me feel  _bored_. Fix it."

 "I'm sorry, babe, but there's nothing I can do about that." Carmilla looks away from Laura and makes sure Will's still on the line for the bathroom. "He really likes talking about his job, and his job happens to be the least _fun_ job in the history of the world." 

 Laura's head suddenly pops up from the table. There's a smirk on her face. A smirk that tells Carmilla that something's going to happen. Something that's either going to be super good or super bad. Maybe even both.

 "Okay, so we can't make him talk about something more fun," Laura starts. "But we can make it _sound_  fun. To us at least."

 "And how are you going to do that?" Carmilla questions, quirking her eyebrows. "Unless there's a way you can turn us into business lovers in the blink of an eye, I don't think there's a way to get out of three more hours of pure boredom."

 "Yes, there is. We just have to make sure _anything_ anyone says is  _fun_ ," Laura answers. "Duh."

 "Uh huh." Carmilla rolls her eyes. "Okay, so what do you suggest?"

 Laura doesn't reply. Instead, she calls a waiter and orders something, her voice deliberately low so Carmilla can't hear her. When the waiter comes back with two glasses of what looks like water, she’s even more confused as to what her girlfriend is trying to do.

 "Water? You suggest  _water?"_ Carmilla looks at Laura skeptically. "How is  _water_  supposed to help us find _anything_ anyone says _fun?_ I'm sorry, but I don't think hydration is the answer."

 "Will you please just drink," is all she gets for an answer.

 Carmilla rolls her eyes again as she takes a sip, and it all makes sense. It's not water, it's alcohol. Carmilla smirks and looks at Laura. She raises her glass and proceedes to down it in one gulp. Her girlfriend looks really impressed and tries to imitate her, but ends up almost choking to death.

-

 After Carmilla's seventh drink and Laura's third, they finally get rid of boring Will and head back to their apartments. Carmilla's fine, Laura not so much. She's so drunk she almost gets run over by a car at least three times, and Carmilla really doesn't know how this girl survived before she came into her life. When they get to their floor, she opens Laura's door and lets her in the apartment. Laura starts walking in and trips over her own feet, falling down. Carmilla rushes to help her up.

 "Hey, you okay there?" She asks, worried, sitting Laura down on the couch.

 "Never better," Laura says, and if almost being run over by cars and tripping over her own feet hadn't given away how drunk she was, her voice would have.

 "Oh, I think you've been better than this," Carmilla mocks her as she sits down next to her. Laura scrunches up her nose. "You're such a lightweight, cupcake. It's hilarious."

 "Shut your face, Karnstein." Laura presses a finger to her lips, and then looks down at her. Carmilla has absolutely no idea what she's doing until she speaks again. "Why are you _so_ _fucking_ _hot?"_ A smirk appears on her face and she doesn't know how she's not laughing right now because, whoa, there's no way Laura's actually saying that. "I can't believe I'm _tapping_ that."

 Carmilla can't hold it in anymore and cracks up. Laura furrows her eyebrows. 

 "What's funny?"

 "You're  _so_  drunk."

 Laura scoffs.

 "I'm not drunk, you're drunk."

 "Yeah, whatever you say."

 Laura starts punching her but it's so uneffective she stops after a while. She still makes a show of how Carmilla's obviously lost.

 "Next time you better  _call_  before  _thinking_  me drunk again."

 Carmilla laughs at her again. 

 "Do you mean I better  _think_  before  _calling_  you drunk again?"

 "That's what I said, you stupid useless masterpiece of a woman. You better think before calling me-"

 "Drunk?" Carmilla finishes her sentence. Laura looks angrily at her, daring her to say it. "Laura,  _y_ _ou're drunk_."

 Laura tries to elbow her but ends up falling off the couch.

 "Okay, so maybe I'm a  _little_  drunk," she says as she stands up. Carmilla rolls her eyes at her and smirks. Laura usually doesn't notice the smug look, being so frequently on her girlfriend's face she's grown used to it, but this time she does, and it kind of turns her on. And her drunken self makes sure Carmilla knows it. "You look hot. You look really  _really_  hot. Like hotter than the _sun_. No, hotter than the hottest star. Because I think it's not the sun. The point is you're super duper hot. Hot, hot, _hot_."

 "Thank you," Carmilla chuckles and stands up. "How about we get you to bed now?"

 Laura grabs her by the wrist and pulls her down.

 "I said you look hot."

 "Yeah, I heard you the first eight times you said it." Carmilla tries to stand up again. "Laura, you need to-"

 "Why won't you shut up," Laura whines. Carmilla finds that statement awfully ironic. "I just told you you look hot and it's obviously an invitation and I don't know why you're always so oblivious. And like, _really_ , shut up. There are better things you could be doing with that mouth of yours and I have no idea why you're not doing them."

 Carmilla grins and lets Laura pull her closer and press her lips to hers for a few seconds before pulling away.

 "No, hey, come back."

 Laura's breath hits her in the face and _wow,_ _hey_ , _isn't vodka supposed to be scentless?_

 "Don't take it the wrong way, cupcake, I just don't want you throwing up inside of my mouth."

 Laura snorts and shakes her head and _shaking her head_ _, obviously a really bad idea_  because before she can tell Carmilla how not about to throw up she is and try kissing her again, the world starts spinning and her stomach growls and she feels it coming. She stands up and runs to the bathroom as fast as she can and she vomits inside the toilet. She can feel the happinness she was experiencing slowly fading away and Carmilla positioning herself by her side.

 "Please don't say I told you so?" She babbles when she's done vomiting.

 "Whatever you want," Carmilla answers. "So you got it all out or...?"

 Before Carmilla can finish her sentence, Laura is throwing up again. She feels Carmilla grabbing her hair back and she wants to smile at the gesture, but she obviously can't because there's something else occupying her mouth. It finally stops again and Laura looks back at Carmilla.

 "Okay, you can say it now."

 Carmilla shakes her head.

 "Don't worry, babe. I'm not going to say it."

 Laura smiles at her and grabs her hand. Carmilla squeezes it.

 "I better go get you a bucket or something so you can go to bed and have it by your side."

 She tries to let go of Laura's hand but the girl won't let her.

 "Stay," Laura pleads.

 "Laura, I'm just going to get you something," she tells her. "I'll come back."

 "No, I want you to stay."

 Carmilla knows Laura's being completely unreasonable, and she's about to leave when Laura starts pouting. And really, that's just not fair because Laura  _knows_ Carmilla can't say no to her when she pouts. So she stays. She looks for towels and a glass of water inside the bathroom, never letting go of Laura's hand. She gives the water to Laura and makes a bed out of towels, explaining a drunk and confused Laura they weren't just going to sleep on the cold floor. When she's done, she looks back at her girlfriend.

 "Are you quite done with the barfing?"

 "Hey, rude," Laura replies, furrowing her eyebrows.

 "Just checking." Laura rolls her eyes at her. "So, done?"

 "I think so. At least for a while."

 "Great."

 Carmilla helps Laura lay down on the floor and lets herself fall down next to her. She puts a towel over them and Laura cuddles up to her side.

 "This is nice," Laura says as she rests her head on Carmilla's chest.

 Carmilla scoffs in response.

 "Yeah, _super_ nice. I especially _love_ how the hard floor feels on my back."

 Laura chuckles and moves so that she's facing her girlfriend. She looks her in the eye and kisses her jaw, and her cheek, and her nose, and she's about to peck her on the lips when Carmilla talks again. 

 "Hey, put that mouth somewhere else, I don't want your vomit."

 Laura snorts and pokes her shoulder before moving back to her previous position on Carmilla's chest.

 "Shut up."

 -

 Silence falls upon them. A minute goes by, and then five, and then ten. Carmilla feels Laura's breathing synching to hers. She smiles in the darkness and closes her eyes and thinks of how lucky she feels (even if she's literally sleeping on the floor of a bathroom that isn't her own with a drunken Laura by her side.) It's been about half an hour since Laura told her to shut up and she's almost sure she's sleeping. She herself is falling asleep. But before she can, Laura proves her wrong by speaking again.

 "Carm?" She hears her whisper.

 "Yeah, cupcake?"

 "I love you."

 The words fill the air and Carmilla knows there is no way her heart could have possibly skipped a beat, but it sure feels like it. And she wants to say it back, she wants to,  _so bad_. But she's scared because Laura probably won't remember, and she wants her to remember. She really wants her to remember.

 So minutes go by before Carmilla finally lets herself say "I love you, too," and by the time she does, the girl on her arms is already sleeping.

 And she thinks that maybe that's the way it was meant to be said.

 (At 2AM on a Saturday night with Laura's scent filling her lungs.)

 


	5. The time Carmilla's a sap.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for making you wait for a week. I'm from South America and I just started school again.  
> That's why I wanted to ask you if you wanted me to keep writing (this fic or another one). Writing kind of helps me relax and I need that.

 Laura wakes up to throw up another couple of times that night, and each one of those times Carmilla grabs her hair back and gives her a glass of water and whispers Grimm’s Fairy Tales (the real bedtime stories, she says) in her ear until she falls asleep.

-

 Carmilla doesn’t sleep much. She dozes off once or twice, but only to be woken up by Laura, so she settles for closing her eyes and listening to her girlfriend’s cute snoring, feeling her rise and fall on her chest.

 It’s been almost two hours since Laura woke up for the last time, and Carmilla decides she’s been “sleeping” for long enough and gently moves, trying her best not to wake Laura. Once she’s up on her feet, she glances at the frowning girl who’s gripping the towels that are where Carmilla had been just moments ago. She makes her way out with a hint of a smile on her face.

 Carmilla walks slowly, taking in everything around her, very much like that first time she had walked into Laura’s apartment. What had she thought that time? Oh, yeah, clean and organised. She grins. It’s not that clean and organised anymore. There’s books messily thrown over the coffee table (books that are clearly not Laura’s), and a pair of pants messily thrown over the couch (pants that are clearly not Laura’s), and a few other things messily thrown over the floor (things that are clearly not Laura’s.)

 And Carmilla remembers that thought she had after their first kiss, that time she almost fell on the floor because she was so tired, but even though she was tired sleeping wasn’t the first thing on her list. She remembers how she wanted to kiss Laura, over and over again. What had she thought that time? Oh, yeah, that maybe cleanness needs a mess every once in a while.

 She thinks of this as she looks at Laura’s not so clean apartment, and she wonders if it wasn’t such a stupid thought after all. And after seeing all of her things thrown all over the apartment, she thinks of how maybe this kind of feels like her apartment, too. Like their apartment. Hers and Laura’s. _Theirs_.

 And then she almost falls on the floor and she remembers how she hasn’t slept that much today either and how maybe it’s the tiredness talking again.

 She goes to the kitchen and washes her face with cold water on the sink, and she gets started on making breakfast for Laura.

 (The thought of a theirs still wandering somewhere on the back of her mind.)

-

When Laura wakes up for the sixth time, she doesn’t feel the warmth of Carmilla’s body against hers unlike every other time she’s woken up that night, so she worries. She wants to call out for her, but that’s off the table unless she wants her head to feel like it’s being hit by a thousand hammers, so she settles for clumsily standing up and heading to her living room.

 She’s surprised to see the sun really up in the sky and the nearest clock telling her it’s almost 3PM. Had she really been sleeping that long? She looks around the room, but Carmilla’s not there.

 “Carm?” She calls, still looking around the room as if she would magically appear on the couch. Her voice is so low, she’s sure Carmilla wouldn’t hear her even if she was five feet away from her. Luckily for her, the dark-haired girl comes out of the kitchen in that very moment.

 “Hey, cupcake,” she greets her. “How are you feeling?” She leaves a tray on Laura’s tiny table and looks at her.

 Laura snorts at the question and she quickly regrets it, feeling like the thousand hammers she was trying to avoid are hitting her head _hard._ She lets herself fall on the couch and answers with nothing but the truth.

 “Like shit.”

 Carmilla chuckles and sits by her side.

 “That’s the spirit, babe,” she says. “That’s the spirit.”

 “Not now, you broody sarcastic human being,” Laura barks out. “I don’t have the strength to tell you to shut up.”

 “Whoa,” Carmilla gasps. “You do feel like shit, then.”

 “I said no sarcasm.”

 “No, you didn’t. You said-”

 “I guess I was wrong,” Laura cuts her off. “I do have the strength. Shut up.”

 Carmilla holds her hands up and laughs (and her laugh is a sound Laura knows she wouldn’t mind hearing for the rest of her life.)

 “Got it, no sarcasm, no sarcasm.” Laura smiles and Carmilla grabs her hand. “Would breakfast help at all?”

 Laura’s stomach growls in response before she has the chance to answer.

 “Okay, then.” Carmilla stands up without waiting for Laura to actually reply with words. She signals for her to stand up, too, but she doesn’t. Carmilla rolls her eyes. “Come on, you tiny ball of cuteness, up.”

 “No,” Laura pouts. “I don’t want to get up. I feel like shit and I don't want to do it so I'm not going to.”

 “I thought you wanted breakfast. I even went downstairs to that shop you like so much and bought cupcakes.” Laura’s stomach growls once more. “Hey, I know you want to eat. Do you want me to bring it here?” Laura nods and Carmilla grins. “What are you, a child?” Laura nods again. “Fine, I’ll bring it.”

 Ten seconds later Carmilla’s back with the tray. She leaves it on the coffee table and Laura greets her with a big smile and a kiss on the cheek. They eat in silence. Laura shares her cocoa and Carmilla tries not to smile all the time, but it’s getting hard to be broody with Laura around all the time.

 “Thanks for taking care of me, Carm,” Laura mutters when she’s done eating her third cupcake.

 Carmilla shrugs it off with a smile and offers her a chocolate chip cookie. Laura doesn’t accept it. She may be done with the cupcakes, but she’s not done with her.

 “I mean it. I really mean it.”

 “I know you do, it’s just I really don’t mind,” Carmilla says. “I _like_ spending time with you, so it’s not like this is torture or anything.” She puts the cookie in front of Laura’s face. “You should eat this now.”

 “You know what I also meant?” Laura inquires, ignoring the cookie and almost all of Carmilla’s reply. “What I said last night.”

 Carmilla’s eyes shoot up from the cookie on her hand and look into Laura’s. She’s confused. Is Laura talking about what she thinks she’s talking? Does she really remember what her drunken self had said last night? Maybe she’s talking about something else, and Carmilla doesn’t feel like risking it, so she just asks.

 “And what did you say last night?”

 “You know!” Laura says, nudging Carmilla’s shoulder. She felt her last night. How she had stopped breathing for a second after she said those words. She’s sure Carmilla heard her. She looks back at her girlfriend and holds her gaze. “You didn’t say it back.”

 Carmilla feels a tug in her heart at how Laura's voice had sounded a bit broken and she looks away before answering. She doesn’t know what to say. When it comes to talking about feelings she’s a nervous mess. Probably because she’s not used to having them.

 “I did say it back,” she corrects Laura. “You had fallen asleep already, but I did.” She plays with the cookie on her hand and, without looking up, she offers it again. “Will you eat the damn cookie now?”

 Laura pokes her arm and makes her look at her. She’s smiling wide, and, of course, she ignores the cookie again.

 “I’m not sleeping right now, you know,” she states the obvious.

 Carmilla raises her eyebrows. She knows what Laura’s trying to do, and she knows it’s probably going to work, but that doesn't mean she'll make it so easy.

 “Really? I would have never guessed.”

 Laura frowns and scrunches up her nose, but she doesn’t give up. She never gives up.

 “Carm, I’m awake now.”

 “Yeah, so?”

 “So say it back.”

 Carmilla looks away again. She wants to say it. She’s been wanting to say it ever since that day after they set off the smoke alarm together and she finally understood how _deep_ her feelings for Laura truly were. She wants to say it, she just doesn’t know how. And the fact that she doesn’t seem able to talk at all isn’t helping that much either.

 “Hey, I’ll even eat the cookie if you say it.”

 Carmilla looks at her skeptically.

 “I swear I’ll eat it! You just have to-”

 “I love you, okay?” Carmilla mumbles quickly. “Now keep your word and eat.”

 She tries feeding the cookie to Laura again, but the girl shoves it off with a big goofy grin on her face.

 “I didn’t hear you, babe. What did you say, again?”

 “Oh, you _so_ heard me.”

 “Oh, I _so_ didn’t,” Laura assures. “I’m sorry, but you’ll have to say it again. Just make sure to speak louder and clearer this time.”

 Carmilla sighs. Yeah, Laura was _not_ going to let it go.

 “Say it,” Laura pokes her arm. “Say it, say it,” she pokes her arm twice. “Say it, say it, say it, say it, say it-”

 “Stop it!” Carmilla covers Laura’s mouth with her hand. “You win, you win.” She lets her hand fall back down and looks at Laura, who’s looking at her expectantly. “I love you, Laura, I love you a _lot._ ” Her girlfriend looks pretty satisfied, but there’s no way Carmilla’s going to shut up now. Not when she’s finally getting it all out. “I love your smile and your long rants and how you never ever give up. I love you because you know me better than anyone else has ever known me. And I love you because when I look at you I feel like life is worth it just because you’re there. And I love you so much I couldn’t even say it last night until you fell asleep because I was afraid you wouldn’t remember. And I wanted you to remember. I want you to remember how much I love you, Laura. I love you so so _so_ much.” Carmilla takes a deep breath. Laura’s looking at her like she’s going to explode from happiness and she’s not sure what to do now. She’s sure of one thing, though. And that is that she needs to stop talking about feelings. Now. “And now that I've said it  _would you please open your mouth and eat this cookie?”_

 Laura grins and nods quickly. She eats the cookie. No, she devours it. Carmilla doesn’t even know if it’s _healthy_ to swallow that fast. And yeah, she’s right, it’s not.

 “Easy there,” she says as she pats Laura’s back. “Eat fast if you want, just don’t choke on me after I declare my love to you.”

 Laura laughs when she’s stopped coughing. She looks Carmilla in the eye and smiles wide.

 “I love you, too, you know?”

 “Yeah, I know, you said it first,” she rolls her eyes. “You’re such a sap.”

 “Sure, I’m the sap. Whatever you say you big giant softie.”

 Carmilla smirks and gets closer to Laura.

 “Big and giant are the same thing, cupcake,” she mocks her.

 “Shut up, you’re ruining the moment.”

 She gets even closer.

 “Are we having a moment?” She whispers in her ear. Laura gulps.

 “You don’t understand what shut up means, do you?”

 Carmilla leans back a few inches, just enough for her to be able to look down at Laura’s lips. Laura can feel her breath on her face and she can’t help but look down at Carmilla’s lips, too.

 “Oh, yeah, cupcake. I most certainly do.”

 Laura doesn’t reply. Well, she probably would have, but Carmilla doesn’t let her. She presses her lips to hers and, just like that first time, it feels all kinds of awesome. Laura’s lips taste like a mix of cocoa and chocolate chip cookies and something she can’t properly name.

 But then Laura kisses her back, hands on her neck and lips pressing hard, and she gets it. She finally gets it.

 (Laura’s lips taste like a mix of cocoa, and chocolate chip cookies, and _home._ )

**Author's Note:**

> I just felt like writing fluff.  
> sorry if there are any mistakes, english is not my first language.  
> follow me on tumblr at esxteric-darkness.tumblr.com (if you think I'm cool enough for you that is.)


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